Wieters wielding a hot bat

By Roch Kubatko

Orioles

August 08, 2012, 5:40pm

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Matt Wieters caught 14 innings last night. In the heat. In August. His body is screaming for rest, but not tonight. Not with Steve Johnson making his first major league start. Wieters called the pitches for Johnson and made certain that the rookie would have lots of run support, too. He's 2-for-4 with two doubles and five RBIs, as the Orioles have taken a 9-2 lead over the Mariners at Camden Yards. In the last two nights, Wieters is 5-for-10 with three doubles, two home runs and seven RBIs. His three extra-base hits last night were a career high. Wieters has totaled five RBIs for the fourth time in his career, including three times this season. It also happened on April 16 in Chicago and June 14 against the Pirates. The Orioles loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh after Wieters' two-run double, but they couldn't pad their lead. They're 4-for-12 with runners in scoring position and have stranded seven. Troy Patton retired all four batters he faced last night and all three tonight to lower his ERA to 2.70. I reminded Dave Johnson that Steve topped his career high in strikeouts by two. "Yeah, but I went nine innings," he said. "Slacker." That's a walk-off.